SmithAntics

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Hilarity

Monday, November 23, 2009

Idiots

I can barely stand to watch cable news anymore, but the word this morning is that Lieberman-style health care "reform" is probably the only legislation that has a chance of passing due to the craven enemy whores within the Democratic party. I actually hate to pile on Obama when the nutters are gleefully crowing about him bowing to Chinese leaders, etc., etc., and the GOP groupies that are the national media are dutifully piling on, but, I’ll say it again, if the Dems don’t get healthcare right, sign me up for the backlash.

Monday, October 26, 2009

On Bended Knee

Friday, October 23, 2009

Happy Friday

Fucking Blue Dog industry whores. There's little doubt they will sell us out on health care reform. When they do, I am de-registering as a Democrat. They will lose this life-long sucker, and I will make it my mission in life to convince other Democrats to bail the party. There must be consequences for their whoring. Fuck it. Let the Republicans regain power and flush this joke of a country down the toilet.

Better yet, a higher alien intelligence should come down and vaporize this planet.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Isn’t it Funny When….

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

The Asshole Party

When I first started blogging, I too was taken in by folks like McCain. I thought they were serious people interested in a genuine meeting of the minds. I was dying to have useful conversations with intelligent conservatives, who knew how to write and also knew how to debate.

It has never happened. It will never happen with the McCains of the world, for they are not what we think of as conservatives. They are probably best described as part of the group that flirts with what David Neiwert calls Eliminationists and eliminationist ideas, but the standard term, when being polite to them, is "movement conservative." Whatever you call them, they hate liberalism with a passion. And by "liberalism" I mean liberalism as in the Enlightenment and the American Founders such as the Jefferson of the Declaration and the letter to the Danbury Baptists. These are people who are still fighting the battles lost by the Federalists in the earliest days of the United States. These are very, very strange people and there is no common ground to be reached between liberals and them. They can only be defeated and their ideas relegated to the margins of modern American political discourse, where they belong. Fortunately, as powerful as they are, there are not too many of them. Unfortunately, they are extremely good at disguising their extremism; many decent Americans have been bamboozled. (One of the major reasons I started blogging was because, at the time, very few people other than Krugman seemed to be onto their game. Many more are now, but not enough.)

Among the most important ways to defeat movement conservatives is to refuse to take their bullshit seriously, even for a moment. In fact, when they are given undeserved influence and respect, as they were in the months before Bush/Iraq, innocent people die.

On the other hand, dialogue with conservatives, genuine conservatives, is not only possible, but something liberals are having right now, every day. A prime example is the intense argument many in the blogosphere are having with the current president of the United States. I'm not kidding or being a smarty-pants: Whatever his personal beliefs, Obama governs as a centrist and even, in some areas, like a conservative. Therefore, it is no surprise at all that it has been very, very difficult to introduce genuinely liberal ideas into this administration, and that Van Jones' resignation is a genuine loss to liberals.

That said, the Obama administration has not heaped the kind of eliminationist scorn on us that McCain and his fellow brown shirt wannabes have. It is with Obama and other Democrats that you will find the discussions you want to have. You may not like what they're doing, but they are not in the grip of a genuinely creepy ideology.

Indeed, most top Democrats adhere to what used to be called "conservatism," including the Clintons, Reid, and of course the even-more-conservative blue dogs. It has been noted, often with amazement, that today's Democrats are to the right of Nixon on many issues; needless to say, that is pretty damn far right.

With movement conservatives, however, there is not a chance of a real discussion. And yes, what that means is that to the (nearly complete) extent that Republicans have become synonymous with movement conservatism, they are, as Van Jones rightly said, simply assholes.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

More on the Quitta

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Robert Strange McNamara 1916 - 2009

Always a numbers guy full of facts and figures and the right answer.During Vietnam, however, the numbers confounded him and he couldn'tfind the right answer. The facts, as he knew them in his mind, didn't add up to the reality taking place in southeast Asia.

No big surprise that I have always been ambivalent on the strange saga of Bobby Mac and his wrenching quest to be loyal to his commander - in- chief, his country and the troops caught in a quagmire of mindbending proportions...and still try to "defeat" communism in a strange, far off land.

The Vietnamese tenacity and heart defied the facts and figures thisBerkeley/Harvard wunderkind knew in his heart to be right. It crushed him and in the end he called it quits, resigning on March 1st, 1968.

I believe he did give it his all, the old college try as they say, yet myambivalence still looms. I do wish him a well deserved rest but I don'tthink we should ever forget the heinous and painful mistakes this man made. The one saving grace was that he was enough of a Dove to keep Nuclear war off the table.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Happy Friday

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

BIAFRA!

One of the biggest inspirations of my life is this guy. Anyone who runs for mayor of a major metropolitan at the age of 20, and almost wins, is a revolutionary in my book and a hero. I liked his old band too. Eric Boucher (Jello Biafra) is 51 today! Happy Birthday!

*UPDATE*- Found this one just now. Biafra at the 2008 DNC delivers a barnburner of a speech. 9 minutes but well worth it. Almost prophetic considering what is going on now with the spineless Dems. Enjoy!

A 21 year old Biafra interviewed outside Oki Dog in West LA, 1980 - Great interview!

Dead Kennedys at the On Broadway in San Francisco June 16th 1984Police Truck

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Whores of Betrayal

I think this blog has found new life, and it’s for the worst reason: Obama and his spineless allies in congress are corrupt corporate whores.

We now have every indication that desperately needed healthcare, education, industry, and environmental reforms will be watered down or sacrificed altogether on the altar of corporate appeasement and bipartisanship.

These people have done nothing to challenge the corporate-dominated status quo, because they creatures of that system. Anything that would even slightly piss off industry or Republicans is "off the table."

Lisa, you were right. I was fooled by Obama and his bullshit change narrative, and now I feel like punching a fucking hole in the wall for being so god damn naïve.